Sacred Text · The Analects
The Analects 15:8
Book 15, chapter 8 · the sayings of Confucius
Translation: James Legge, The Chinese Classics: Confucian Analects (1861, revised 1893), public domain, via Project Gutenberg (ebook 3330). Reproduced in full and in context; the sayings 15:23 (the negative Golden Rule), 6:28 (ren), 4:15 (the one thread) and 2:4 (the stages of life) were validated against the source before publishing. References follow Legge’s standard book:chapter numbering.
How this connects to Jesus
The person of virtue, Confucius said, will not seek to live at the expense of injuring their virtue; they will even give their life to keep it whole. Jesus made a startling promise on the same ground: whoever loses his life for my sake will find it (Matthew 16:25), and he laid down his own life for his friends (John 15:13). A shared reverence for the life that will not betray what is good.
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